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Complex plotting and great pacing makes Frantic by Katherine Howell a gripping read. This first in the Ella Marconi series set on the streets of Sydney, Australia certainly lives up to it’s title.

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About the Book

Paramedic Sophie Phillip’s life is shattered when her husband is shot and her ten month old baby, Lachlan, is snatched. Cool-headed Detective Ella Marconi tries to unravel the complex clues, while Sophie hatches her own plans to find the culprit, certain she knows who took Lachlan and why. Her husband Chris has his own theories—vastly different from Sophie’s—but afraid for his son’s life, he refuses to speak these aloud. With the consequences high, will the clues Ella follows lead her away from the truth? And how far will Sophie go to save her child?

My Thoughts

A crime novel that explores fractured relationships and misunderstandings, Frantic by Katherine Howell is much more than your usual police procedural. There is a lot going on in this novel—police corruption, drug addiction, political point scoring, family dysfunction and old wounds—and it’s all cleverly constructed so as to keep you guessing. It’s so pacey I often felt like I was in the ambulance with Sophie, sirens blazing and speeding down the wrong side of the road. With Sophie and Ella sharing the bulk of the narration, readers get insight into the world of political policing and that of paramedics. I found the injection of Sophie’s job added a new dimension and while there were times when I, as a lay-person, skimmed over some of the medical details, this never detracted from the story. It also gives a new angle to the choices available to Sophie as amateur detective. Sophie and Ella are richly characterised and I’m a little sorry that Sophie’s story is at an end. Yet Ella, a little jaded, still ambitious and uninterested in playing the game, has plenty of scope to be a compelling series character.

First published in 2007, the events in this book are just as prevalent today. Though the series has, for now, come to an end, with the final book Tell The Truth released earlier this year (Feb, 2015), I look forward to reading more about Ella Marconi and the paramedics with whom she collides. Luckily, there are seven more in the series!

About the Author

Katherine Howell worked as a paramedic for fifteen years while completing her Bachelor and Masters degrees in creative writing. Her first novel, Frantic, was published in 2007 by Pan Macmillan and set a paramedic alongside Sydney police detective Ella Marconi in ‘an adrenaline rush of a thriller’ (Sydney Morning Herald). It won the 2008 Davitt award for best crime fiction. Her second book, The Darkest Hour, continued the pattern with Ella and another paramedic in ‘a finely paced and engrossing novel’ (Guardian UK). The third in the series, Cold Justice, made the Australian bestseller list, saw Katherine travelling on a P&O cruise as guest author, and was described by NYT bestselling author Tess Gerritsen as ‘one of my favourite books of the year’. It also won the 2011 Davitt award for best crime fiction, making Katherine the only author to have won twice. Her fourth book, Violent Exposure, was described by Bookseller & Publisher as ‘arguably her best yet – four stars’, while the fifth, Silent Fear, was chosen as a ‘Guaranteed Book You Can’t Put Down’ by the national Get Reading! programme. Katherine’s books are published in multiple countries and languages and have been likened to the work of Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell. Katherine teaches writing and editing, and she lives in Queensland with her partner, who owns a bookshop.

 

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